The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the probes revealed a background of planning to request asylum through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be allowed to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The plot was stopped because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brasília.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
